Several East-Side residents have strong feelings on how the Uinta Mountains have been managed. Now forest management is inviting their input.
The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest’s Evanston station is now accepting public input on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Blacks Fork Salvage Project.
The project area is 2,600 acres almost all in Summit County about 20 miles southeast of Evanston. The fastest way to reach it is from the Mountain View, Wyoming exit off Interstate 80.
The project will use prescribed burning, mechanical thinning and will contract with a lumber company to harvest marketable timber, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tim Gill, a silviculturist at the Evanston, Wyoming station, said it’s a relatively large area for this kind of project.
“This proposal is being developed in direct response to the continuing mountain pine beetle epidemic in the area and its potential long-term impacts on the Blacks Fork area. The primary purpose of this project is to salvage dead lodge pole pine. A secondary purpose… is to provide wildlife habitat improvements,” according to the press release. Reducing the risk of fire is a third motivation.
Gill said the actual work won’t begin for about one year. His office is now doing preparatory work.
He said public input ranges from wanting more land opened for harvesting to people advocating no cutting.
While the forest service still sprays for the mountain pine beetle near campgrounds, the infestation is so bad the forest service is now just managing the damage, he said.
“There are too many dead trees at this point; most of the trees are dead. We’re beyond trying to stop the spread We’re now trying to salvage some timber that’s still marketable and get some healthy young trees growing,” Gill explained.
The bugs are even going after smaller and younger trees than usual and attacking species previously left alone, he added.
Former timber professionals in South Summit have blamed the infestation on poor forest management. Gill said it’s too easy to blame policy.
“Mountain pine beetles are a natural part of our ecosystem. Historically you’d have smaller infestations. This is one of the biggest ones we know about from record. Exactly why, nobody knows for certain,” he said.
Many trees in the forest are older, making them susceptible to the insects.
Send comments on the Blacks Fork Salvage Project to [email protected] . They must be in rich text (rtf.) or word (doc.) format. The comments will be used to create a Final Environmental Impact Statement.
View Blacks Fork Salvage Project in a larger map